We know that we don’t “use” a lot of the genes inside our cells, but our DNA is strung with relics. But what are those relics, and what if they come back to haunt us? Here’s what you’re carrying around, and why it’s not as irrevocably part of the past as you think it is. »7/13/15 11:20am 7/13/15 11:20am

While DNA is the building block of life, its cousin RNA keeps the show running smoothly, as it carries the information from DNA that allow genes to be expressed. RNA's ability to increase or decrease the expression of genes means it has huge potential to treat diseases at the genetic level, including tumors and… »5/26/13 5:00pm 5/26/13 5:00pm

While traditional vaccines can offer annual protection from the latest flu strains, the viruses mutate and evolve so fast that we're right back where we started the following year. That's where a revolutionary new vaccine could change everything. »11/25/12 2:00pm 11/25/12 2:00pm

All living organisms use DNA as the carrier of genetic material and RNA as the messenger molecule directing the expression of genes and creation of proteins. This arrangement has lasted 3.5 billion years. But what came before these life-giving molecules? »1/16/12 11:17am 1/16/12 11:17am

Before Charles Darwin, the leading evolutionary theorist was Jean-Baptise Lamarck, who believed organisms acquired traits over their lifetimes that they then passed onto their children. This theory has been roundly disproved...but in the case of roundworms, Lamarck was actually right. »12/07/11 2:40pm 12/07/11 2:40pm

All life on Earth is related, which means we all must share a single common evolutionary ancestor. And now it appears that this ancestor might have been a single, planet-spanning organism that lived in a time that predates the development of survival of the fittest. »11/28/11 8:00am 11/28/11 8:00am

There's a longstanding belief that, on average, women are healthier than men, and with good reason. Women live longer, and studies reveal women fight off disease better than their male counterparts. But where does this advantage come from? Turns out it's all thanks to some microRNA on the X-chromosome. »9/28/11 7:40am 9/28/11 7:40am

We've suspected it for awhile now, and now it's confirmed that the bacterium Yersinia pestis was responsible for the devastating plague that wiped out a third of Europe 650 years ago. But this ultimate killer started as something far different. »8/30/11 11:18am 8/30/11 11:18am

The Belly Button Biodiversity project recently began taking DNA samples from people's navels to find out what bacteria is living within. Of the roughly 1,400 bacterial strains discovered thus far, at least 662 of them are completely unknown. »7/03/11 9:30am 7/03/11 9:30am

Biology faces a basic paradox - life requires DNA to function, yet DNA evolved after life emerged. Now a study of modern bacteria has revealed what DNA's progenitor might be. »8/12/10 12:00pm 8/12/10 12:00pm